Disclaimer ~ I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn
Lal was tired. Undercover missions always exhausted her, and this one was particularly troublesome. She had to play the "sweet and innocent" secretary for Donovan Marcello, CEO of Marcello Accounting. Lal spent two months acting the complete opposite of her personality. It was revolting.
The only reason her mission took so long was because despite being a huge pervert, Donovan was paranoid. He kept his cards close to his chest. It took Lal the whole two months to make Donovan trust her enough to invite her back to his home. From there, Lal merely had to steal the information she was after and escape.
While it wasn't the worst mission Lal had been on, it wasn't pleasant either. All Lal wanted to do right now was go to her room, take her frustrations out on her punching bag, take an extra long shower, and sleep for a week. Deciding to do exactly that, Lal set off towards her room, wrapping bandages around her hands as she walked.
The manor was silent. It made sense, as it was about two in the morning. Even crazies like Reborn and Verde needed to sleep at some point. If anybody else was awake, they were staying quiet so as not to disturb anyone else. There was also the possibility of someone being away on a mission, but Lal doubted it. As far as she knew, she was the only one with a mission that would last more than a couple days at most.
Much to her surprise, Lal spotted Skull running down the hall and entering his room with a panicked expression. Lal smirked. He was probably trying to prank Colonello or Reborn again. Good. She hoped it worked. It was rare that those two got pranked. Lal always made sure to praise Skull for the attempt, even if it failed.
Making a mental note to do just that in the morning, Lal opened the door to her room and stepped inside. Her room was kept neat and organized. Exactly as she left it. Excluding her desk, which had several new additions. Two medium sized boxes sat on top of the desk next to a bullet shaped cake. The candles were freshly lit. The final object was an envelope, addressed to her in Skull's semi-cursive handwriting. She opened that first.
It was a birthday card. The cover had a T-Rex attempting to hang a banner that said "Happy Birthday" but was struggling due to its short arms. Lal let out a small laugh at that. Opening the card, she read the message from Skull.
Happy Birthday Lal-Senpai!
I know your birthday was three weeks ago, but you were in that mission and didn't get to celebrate it. So today is your birthday instead!
Make a wish!
Lal smiled fondly. Skull had drawn a little cartoon skull in place of his name. She was touched. This was something she never would have expected from anyone else. But oddly enough, it was such a Skull thing to do that Lal couldn't be surprised.
She turned her attention to the presents next, sitting the card back on her desk. Lal decided to open the smaller of the two first. It was a throw pillow. But not just any old throw pillow. No, this one had a little cartoon cowboy in a classic showdown stance. Above it "Yeehaw!" was embroidered in a light blue. The same shade as Lal's flames. Not many people knew this, but Lal quite enjoyed cheesy little things like this. They were cute.
The next gift was quite a bit heavier. The first thing Lal saw when she opened the box was boxes of ammunition. Underneath it all was a case. Lal's eyes widened when she saw exactly what was inside that case. A gun. But not just any gun. Lal's dream hun. A Titanium Gold Desert Eagle in .440 Cor-Bon. The most powerful semi-automatic handgun in the world. Lal had been wanting to get one for years, but could never find one for sale. The few times she did, she was either outbid or the gun was a fake. The fact that Skull went through who knows how much trouble to get this gun for Lal, not to mention the cost…it meant more to her than anyone would ever know.
Lal placed the gun back in its case carefully. Then she turned her attention towards the cake. Skull certainly had a talent. While simple, the design was expertly done. Just looking at it made her stomach growl. Lal hadn't realized how hungry she was until then.
Lal blew out the candles, picked up the fork left with the cake, and dug in. Any and all post-mission stress melted away with each bite of the heavenly chocolate cake. It only proved how well Lal's self control was that she managed to stop herself from eating the whole thing in one sitting. Lal only had half of it left. She saved that half, putting it in an empty container and into the minifridge for later.
As Lal got ready for bed, she made a mental note to thank Skull in the morning. This was one of the best birthdays she had ever had. Before finally allowing sleep to claim her, Lal had one final thought. Her birthday wish.
"I wish you knew how much we cared for you, silly cloud."
This chapter was HARD. Not horribly so, but I know literally nothing about guns so I got stuck trying to write that part. I just went to my trusty friend Google for help. Hopefully I didn't get anything too wrong.
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! This was the last of the three I needed to post today, so we'll see what gets updated next. I have no idea what it will be, though I have a goal to finish one chapter by next week, so hopefully that's one of them. I'll see everyone on the next update! Please Follow, Favorite, and Review!